Atheist Scientists Say They're Spiritual: Study

A Rice University study of hundreds of scientists from 21 elite research universities shows that many say their spirituality is consistent with their scientific endeavors, yet deny the existence of God, or any god.

UPDATE 5/18/11: Top Scientist Dismisses Heaven as 'Fairytale'

-- From "The Spiritual Lives Of Atheist Scientists" by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service (Huffington Post) 5/6/11

Elaine Howard Ecklund, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of sociology at the Houston university, said the research shows that spirituality is not solely a pursuit of religious people.

"Spirituality pervades both the religious and atheist thought," she said. "It's not an either/or. This challenges the idea that scientists, and other groups we typically deem as secular, are devoid of those big 'Why am I here?' questions. They too have these basic human questions and a desire to find meaning."

Ecklund and other researchers found that these "spiritual atheists" viewed not believing in God "as an act of strength, which for them makes spirituality more congruent with science than religion."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Some atheist scientists are spiritual" by UPI 5/7/11

For example, the spiritual scientists see both science and spirituality as "meaning-making without faith" and as an individual quest for meaning that can never be final. For example, spirituality is open to a scientific journey, but religion requires buying into an absolute absence of empirical evidence, Ecklund said.

The study, scheduled to be published in the June issue of Sociology of Religion, says non-spiritual colleagues might focus on their research at the expense of working with students, but spiritual scientists' sense of spirituality results in them helping struggling students succeed.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual" by Jessica Stark, Rice News staff 5/2/11

[The study] discovered that the terms scientists most used to describe religion included "organized, communal, unified and collective." The set of terms used to describe spirituality include "individual, personal and personally constructed." All of the respondents who used collective or individual terms attributed the collective terms to religion and the individual terms to spirituality.

"While the data indicate that spirituality is mainly an individual pursuit for academic scientists, it is not individualistic in the classic sense of making them more focused on themselves," said Ecklund, director of the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice. "In their sense of things, being spiritual motivates them to provide help for others, and it redirects the ways in which they think about and do their work as scientists."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

Scientist: Universe Created Itself, Not God

Chimpanzees are Authors of Morality, says Scientist

Scientists Can't Tell Difference Between a Man and a Woman

University Won't Hire Christians as Scientists

Obama Energy Dept. Boots Conservative Scientist over Homophobia

Failed Science Advocates Target 'Non-believers'

Calif. Science Center Sued for Censoring Scientific Inquiry

Obamanation: Secularized Like Europe, Spiritualized Like Oprah

If the trends continue, "the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships."

-- From "Survey: 72% of Millennials 'more spiritual than religious'" by Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY 4/27/10

Among the 65% [of 18- to 29-year-olds] who call themselves Christian, "many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only," [says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources]. "Most are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith."

Key findings in the phone survey, conducted in August and released today:

• 65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.

• 65% rarely or never attend worship services.

• 67% don't read the Bible or sacred texts.

Many are unsure Jesus is the only path to heaven: Half say yes, half no.

The findings, which document a steady drift away from church life, dovetail with a LifeWay survey of teenagers in 2007 who drop out of church and a study in February by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which compared the beliefs of Millennials with those of earlier generations of young people.

Even among those in the survey who "believe they will go to heaven because they have accepted Jesus Christ as savior":

• 68% did not mention faith, religion or spirituality when asked what was "really important in life."

• 50% do not attend church at least weekly.

• 36% rarely or never read the Bible.

The Pew survey found young people today were significantly more likely than those in earlier generations to say they didn't identify with any religious group. Neither are Millennials any more likely than earlier generations to turn toward a faith affiliation as they grow older.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Click on the headlines below for documentation of the new America. It's inevitable lest sleeping Christians respond to God's Call to The Church.

Hallelujah, Obama Almighty! Media Proclaim

Obama Thankful for Freedom to Not Worship

Fed. Judge: National Day Of Prayer Unconstitutional

Boston Globe Explores Obama as Fake Christian

Czech President: Obama Wrong to Lead U.N. 'Church of Global Warming'

Belgium, a Glimpse of America's Future?

Observer Fears Islamic Takeover of France Imminent

Cardinal Says Secularization of Europe has Doomed it to Islamization

Pope: Societies drifting into a "desert of godlessness"

Methodists Team Up with Atheists for Bible Study

State-controlled BBC Reduces Christian Broadcast Time

Christian Programing Banned from National Public Radio

Today's Latino Immigrants Less Christian

Environmentalist 'Christians' Say Man Controls Nature, Not God

Socialist Government Schools Teach Bestiality

Countering Secularists' Stripping Jesus from History

Oprah Gives Limelight to Pro-homosexual 'Pastors'

Oprah Winfrey: Agent of Moral Insanity

Oprah Winfrey: Leading Many Down the 'Wide Road'

Obama Rocks Cradle of Community Organizers

Billionaire Liberal Elites Want Fewer Non-elites Born

As the birth rates decline in Europe, and among the wealthiest population groups, America's richest people met secretly to plan world population control. Why all the secrecy? “They wanted to speak rich to rich without worrying anything they said would end up in the newspapers, painting them as an alternative world government.”

UPDATE 8/19/12: Bill & Melinda Gates mark 100th year since the First International Eugenics Congress in London with U.N. “family planning” summit

-- From "Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation" by John Harlow from Los Angeles for The Sunday [London] Times 5/24/09

The philanthropists who attended a summit convened on the initiative of Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, discussed joining forces to overcome political and religious obstacles to change.

Described as the Good Club by one insider it included David Rockefeller Jr, the patriarch of America’s wealthiest dynasty, Warren Buffett and George Soros, the financiers, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, and the media moguls Ted Turner and Oprah Winfrey.

They gathered at the home of Sir Paul Nurse, a British Nobel prize biochemist and president of the private Rockefeller University, in Manhattan on May 5. The informal afternoon session was so discreet that some of the billionaires’ aides were told they were at “security briefings”.

Taking their cue from Gates they agreed that overpopulation was a priority.

“Official projections say the world’s population will peak at 9.3 billion [up from 6.6 billion today] but with charitable initiatives, such as better reproductive healthcare, we think we can cap that at 8.3 billion,” Gates said [in February].

This could result in a challenge to some Third World politicians who believe contraception and female education weaken traditional values.

Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, said the summit was unprecedented. “We only learnt about it afterwards, by accident. Normally these people are happy to talk good causes, but this is different – maybe because they don’t want to be seen as a global cabal,” he said.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.

Stem Cell Hopes: Oprah & Michael J. Fox Ambushed

Oprah guest Dr. Mehmet Oz says stem cell debate is over -- embryo wins (and lives)

-- From "Doc Shocks Oprah on Ethical Stem Cell Successes" by Bob Ellis, Dakota Voice 4/7/09

Why did he say this? Well, it’s because of the (a) tremendous problems that come with embryonic stem cell research, and the (b) tremendous successes already coming from adult stem cell research.

. . . adult stem cell therapy has already produced between 70 and 80 successful therapies for maladies including brain injury, stroke, retina regeneration, heart tissue regeneration, angina, diabetes, bone cancer, nerve regeneration, cerebral palsy, cartilage regeneration, Parkinsons, kidney damage, liver cancer, lupus, multiple sclerosis, leukemia and more.



Also read Courageous Celebs Respond to Michael J. Fox Ad

Oprah Gives Limelight to Pro-homosexual 'Pastors'

“From my perspective, we are coming up with no longer ‘the’ American pastor but an assortment of pastors who are called upon to discuss and advise on moral and social issues. I think that this is a great beginning.”

Where's the response to this from our evangelical pastors?

-- From "Oprah loves Bacon" by Carl Kozlowski, Pasadena Weekly 1/15/09

As rector of Pasadena’s All Saints Church, the Rev. Ed Bacon is proud that his Episcopal parish is one of the most socially progressive religious institutions in America. Yet . . . he still didn’t expect the whirlwind of praise and controversy that he would generate as a guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Jan. 8.

After stating on the show that “being gay is a gift from God,” Bacon and his All Saints staff received thousands of emails from around the world, with most writers thanking him for establishing a new standard of pastoral empathy for the often-shunned homosexual population.

“I think it’s a huge opportunity. We take for granted that a message of toleration and inclusion is what God’s message is about, but a lot of people have never heard this,” said the Rev. Susan Russell, associate pastor at All Saints. “What I find so wonderful is that Ed Bacon [is] able to use this national stage for an inclusive message about the love of God.”

-- From "Oprah tackles new issue: 'Gay is a gift from God'" by Drew Zahn © 2009 WorldNetDaily 1/19/09

During the original broadcast, Bacon's comment was applauded by another member of Winfrey's panel, Michael Bernard Beckwith, founder and spiritual director of Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, who agreed and gave a high-five to Bacon.

"You … you are the first two ministers I have ever heard say, 'Being gay is a gift from God,'" said Winfrey.

"You don't know how freeing it felt to hear that statement, and I was sure any gay person that heard it was in awe," one of Winfrey's Internet message board writers reportedly responded. "I want to thank both of them for letting my heart lift up and feel like something in this life, not an abomination."

Rev. Bacon, as well, confessed that he received an avalanche of e-mail and voice mail response, which he says was 30-to-1 appreciative of his comment.

"What I gather is that [the comment] simply unleashed a flood of healing throughout the country," Bacon said. "People were talking about their hearts being healed, and their hearts leaping."

Bacon further explained that he perceives some Christians use the Bible to condemn people, while others use it to love.

Oprah Winfrey: Leading Many Down the 'Wide Road'

700,000 commit to exploring East-West-hybrid mysticism

From "Oprah's class offers a new way to see" by Cathleen Falsani, posted 3/4/08, at suntime.com

Oprah Winfrey has been spiritually educating her viewers for years. On Monday, she began offering formal instruction to more than 700,000 students across the globe.

Before the first session of "A New Earth" -- a free, 10-week online class taught by Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle, the German-born spiritual teacher and author of the current Oprah's Book Club pick A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purposes -- according to Oprah .com, hundreds of thousands had registered to take part in the 90-minute cyber sessions each at 8 p.m. on Mondays.

Read the rest of this article.

Also, check out this video at carringtonsteel.citymax.com. Advance the tuner to 5 minutes 45 seconds.

Oprah claims to be a Christian yet explains that there are many paths to God (other than Jesus Christ) and everyone should do what is right in their own eyes.

In doing so, she sets herself up as God's judge. In her opinion His laws and His provision for our salvation through Jesus Christ is not quite inclusive enough...

Oprah Winfrey: Agent of Moral Insanity

Although this commentary is three years old, it is more relevant today than ever...

From "Oprah Winfrey: Agent of Moral Insanity" by Albert Mohler, posted 8/31/04 at Albert Mohler.com

Oprah Winfrey, widely cited as one of the most influential and admired women in America, showed herself to be an agent of moral insanity when she featured a program celebrating young children who are seeking sex-change procedures and transgender identities. In one episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," the true nature of our modern sexual confusion was made clear, and the broadcast should long be remembered as one of the most frightening hours in television history.

The program, broadcast on Tuesday, August 24, began with Oprah introducing the children seeking a sex change. "This is going to be a very fascinating show, OK?" Oprah began. She then introduced her first young guest: "He is an 11-year-old child. He likes skateboarding and PlayStation. He listens to rap, studies hard, gets good grades and wears those trendy baggy pants. He was also born a girl."

Oprah then moved to the broader theme of her program. "And right now according to experts, there are thousands of children who are living what appear to be very normal lives but deep inside they know something is terribly wrong or they feel that something is terribly wrong, and these children are saying that they were born in the wrong bodies. Their parents have to decide whether or not to let their children live as the opposite sex. Eleven-year-old Kayla lived for years with this secret."

According to a video broadcast on the program, Kayla was born a girl in 1992, but her mother reported that "Kayla never played with girls' toys, never played with dolls. About two years of age on, Kayla was more into dirt and bikes . . . . she would pick out baggy pants, boxer underwear. She didn't like girls' underpants."

At some point, Kayla saw an episode of the Oprah show and was prompted to declare that she was now a boy. She told her mother that she believed she was a boy born into a girl's body. Her mother Angelina responded in a way that left Oprah nodding in approval. "My first reaction was basically blowing it off. A few days later, I said, 'OK, let's find out more about it'." As the show unfolded, the audience was told that Kayla, now "Kaden," was facing struggles at school. Early puberty presented additional challenges, so Angelina put her 11-year-old daughter on Depo-Provera. (What kind of doctor would put an 11 years old on Depo-Provera?) Kaden told Oprah's audience, "When I'm old enough to, I want to get testosterone and my surgery."

Read the rest of this commentary here.